libraryassistants: (Default)
Unfinished Library Mod & NPC Account ([personal profile] libraryassistants) wrote in [community profile] unfinishedlibrary2025-11-14 08:20 am

It's a beautiful day in the village - TAKE A LOAD OFF, LOG 1

Who: Readers and Actors
What: Beta Story Start - At the start of any particular Story, characters will be drawn to a section of the Stacks. Those inclined to resist will find themselves there anyway, through the shifts and changes inherent to the Library's structure. The Story manuscript will be laid out neatly on a side table, its pages lit by a faint aura that draws focus and beckons insistently to the Editors. Touching it will bring them into the Story.
Characters can either voluntarily touch the Story to enter it, or the Librarian will eventually sweep them in. Regardless of how long it takes them to enter, everyone will arrive at the same point in time.
When: November 14- November 27
Where: Woodhurst (UK) and the SS Radiance (in space!), 2019
Content warnings: Please tag warnings in comment headers!

In Woodhurst

It’s another Monday morning in Woodhurst, and as is often the case for the United Kingdom in the fall, it is raining. It is, all in all, a rather typical Monday morning. People shuffle off to work, dropping by the various cafes and shops for their morning caffeine. Polite (if meaningless) greetings are exchanged, vague comments about the weather are made. Heads down, trudging along, just keeping things going.

By midday, it’s clear that this Monday is a little bit… different. There are some people who seem especially cheerful and helpful. Perhaps you’ve just been served a free upsize of your morning coffee. Or a stranger held an umbrella up for you. People keep talking about the benefits of yoga? And it’s not just a bunch of people seeming to be having an especially good day and paying it forward (that would be strange enough). Some of your friends and loved ones aren’t acting like themselves, aside from being remarkably cheerful. They don’t seem to remember basic things, don’t know their normal rituals, and are generally just very off. You think one of them might have blinked sideways? Whatever it is that’s happened, it doesn’t seem right.

As for those ‘friends and loved ones’… The novices from the Interstellar Group are largely inexperienced with such a thing as covert operations. Fresh off the ship and with no frame of reference, their human disguises may have a few significant flaws.

However many fingers it is they have, they’re keen to help - perhaps a little too much so. Whatever it takes to make these human lives easier, whatever they can do to help them relax - the Group are on it! Hopefully they’ll catch on quietly.


On the IMW Group Supply Ship: Radiance

No plan survives contact with the enemy, is how the saying goes. But within the Interstellar Mindfulness & Wellness Group, the concept is usually applied to patients. Patients are, almost entirely across the board, unpredictable creatures - and while the science behind wellness is robust, there’s simply too much individual variation for a standardised approach. That being said, this particular plan seems to be going… rather more poorly than expected. It starts to break down once the word ‘kidnapping’ is brought up. It’s such an ugly word to use. The Group tries to avoid it. But in some of these cases, the humans need the Group’s own facilities! The idea was to convince the humans to follow them to a very not suspicious space capsule, or to get them to touch this particularly strange teleportation device, and they’d be on their way to recovery. However, most if not all the humans seem to be reacting… quite negatively to that. It’s almost like they don’t understand that this is for their benefit!

The ship is very nice, and perfectly designed to relax and comfort (--for the species the Group are familiar with, at least). Soothing music plays along the spaceship’s halls, which are lit in a soft violet glow. Potted plants are artfully displayed, though none of them are recognisable as any species found on Earth. For those with a sensitive nose, the flowers give off a bright, delicate scent; not unlike that of lavender and lemon myrtle. An entire stretch of glass is dedicated to the view outside, the Earth looking so serene from this distance; stars shining in the space around it.

For those Aliens aboard the mothership, maybe you’re delivering this hour’s yoga session. Maybe you’re leading a group chant or meditation. Are you perhaps talking humans into resting in the healing spa, or - for those so inclined - are you delving deeper, forming a connection, and really getting to know these humans? For the humans… well, at least the spa looks really nice, right?

[Space Spa Features:
Yoga - you’ve been herded into a room where a flexible alien encourages you to breathe deeply; holding it in your stomach and feeling your heart beat before letting it out in a big sigh. The routine is not very different to yoga on Earth, except… well, if you can’t find your proboscis, maybe that particular pose won’t work for you.
Sauna - the heat promotes circulation, but the temperature in here seems to be a little off.
Spa - you know what a spa is. Or, you thought you did. It looks like the aliens aren’t quite on the same page. Where there would normally be cucumbers, there’s a strange pink fruit. Where you’d expect water, there’s… a viscous fluid, gently rotating through a myriad of colours, that seems to soften and soothe your muscles as you soak in it.
And Others - the aliens have no shortage of remedies for what ails you! Since this is their first time experiencing humans, results may vary.]


Optional prompts (player-run):
An alien adrift, unsure what task to complete? Seek guidance from your leader.

In Woodhurst, unnerved and skeptical? Drop in at your local seedy bookshop to chat with some alien enthusiasts.

[Have a plan to drive the Story direction? Let us know, and we’ll add it to the list!

Info post can be found here.]
ugh_emotions: (Neutral 02)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-19 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
The fabric toys are...important? it says, pausing for an entire 0.6 six seconds in the middle of that statement. They were nice, sure, but...important? How?

(And what the hell was 'recursive isekai chaos'?)
terraboo: (Chibi Smile)

[personal profile] terraboo 2025-11-19 06:59 am (UTC)(link)
It's my first chance at anything like this. Proper modern toys. Books are great and all, but this... THIS would complete a ROOM.

So, not THAT kind of important, apparently.

She'd answer if asked about the recursive isekai chaos part.
ugh_emotions: (Neutral 03)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-19 07:54 am (UTC)(link)
These aren't modern.

Scores of families throughout the Corporation Rim would scoff at getting their children these toys. Well, if they had the currency to afford toys. Or offspring.

I don't see what they have to do with rooms either.

Despite the fact that it was, apparently, talking a bit derisively about the plushies...it was still looking at them. In fact, it had picked one up. It was in the shape of some kind of fauna, that had pointy ears and a stripey pattern to its fur.

(Also it can't ask. That would require admitting to a human that it needs help. Which, obviously, is not gonna happen.)
terraboo: (E-he....)

[personal profile] terraboo 2025-11-19 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I mean, I guess it's relative? But this is like, seven centuries futuristic to me. I've only read about it in books that technically shouldn't exist on my world except Gnomon the Archivist was having a chuckle or possibly complicated plan or both. Either way, a room that's only books... It's just. Kinda cold? Like, visually. The chance to do more is the most exciting part of all this since I've arrived here.

Don't worry, she answered it anyways!

She's looking at plush toys of characters she doesn't recognize, and then there's other merch she should be trying to look cool right? But she needs to check how much money she has...
ugh_emotions: (Neutral 01)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-19 10:25 pm (UTC)(link)
They had feed connection devices - albeit weird and archaic ones - but the technology in this place was advanced?

Your world makes no sense, it tells her. (This soft fabric toy was nice. It's just...going to touch it. With its hands. It's not weird.)

It's not going to comment on the 'rooms looking cold' thing. Mainly because that, also, made no fucking sense. But it was also clearly a weird human thing; they got funny, sometimes, about the way things looked. SecUnit didn't understand, but it also didn't care.
terraboo: (Default)

[personal profile] terraboo 2025-11-20 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
Eh, I think this is common enough among human folks? Like, my world IS weird but that's a whole different set of things.

Laina was looking at a couple of her own. Maybe ones from specific franchises I don't know as well should be another day, though. Gotta go hang with Michiko in a while. Wonder if this town has other sources of plush toy goodness?
ugh_emotions: (Neutral 01)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-21 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
It does a quick search of the feed. Which it really shouldn't have to do, but clearly Laina's feed device is shit, and probably can't even look up basic information.

It does, it says. And then attempts to send her a pinned map file indicating other locations where soft fabric toys can be bought. Whether or not she'll be able to make sense of this is another matter, but whatever. It tried.
terraboo: (Whoa!)

[personal profile] terraboo 2025-11-21 06:00 am (UTC)(link)
Okay... Oh. Lessee.

For Laina, this parses as something a bit different. But she glances.

Yes. Ha ha ha... YES...

She must be memeing again. Oh dear.
ugh_emotions: (Weirded out 01)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-21 11:24 am (UTC)(link)
SecUnit was familiar with memes. They were pretty common in certain feed channels. The memes it knew, however, were the memes of the Corporation Rim, or Preservation. An entirely different space and time.

It knew fuck all about the memes humans used when they still lived on their original planet.

And it had absolutely no idea how to respond to Laina's rather bizarre responses. So it just...didn't. Instead it just stands there, having somehow ended up holding the fauna soft fabric toy to its chest, and looks a bit weirded out.
terraboo: (Chibi Smile)

[personal profile] terraboo 2025-11-21 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
This is a fitting response to Laina, honestly. And one she's more than a little used to.

Okay. Time to spend an entirely irresponsible amount of money.

She glances toward SecUnit.

"Shall I cover the cost of that one for you?", she says, smiling.
ugh_emotions: (Neutral 03)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-21 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
It looks at the soft fabric toy. Quickly puts it back, as if it only just realised how closely it was holding it.

No, it says quickly. I don't need it.
terraboo: (Default)

[personal profile] terraboo 2025-11-21 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Laina's smile softens a bit, and she responds via her sendjewel.

Need is a thing, yes. But want? That's quite another. For me, these aren't a need, just a want I'm prepared to act a bit excessively on because I've never had a chance like it before.

She literally said 'entirely irresponsible amount of money' seconds ago.

Acting on wants... Can be bad if it hurts others. But if it helps yourself and doesn't hurt others? Why not?
ugh_emotions: (Pensive 01)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-22 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
...Yeah. Why not. it says.

In the grand scheme of things, it still doesn't have a lot of practice at doing what it wants. Mainly because it's still working on the 'knowing what it wants' stage of the process.

Did it want the soft fabric toy? It liked it. It was felt nice. It had liked hugging it to its chest earlier. But what would it do with it? It didn't have anywhere to put it. And it certainly didn't want to carry the thing around with it.

I don't want it, it says, after pausing for 2.4 seconds. It's too big to fit in my pockets.
terraboo: (Erm)

[personal profile] terraboo 2025-11-22 07:16 am (UTC)(link)
... Laina considered her bag.

Point taken, unless you grabbed a like shoulder bag or something.

She picks a couple plushies in the end, and is heading to checkout to get her hands on them.
ugh_emotions: (Neutral 01)

[personal profile] ugh_emotions 2025-11-22 07:28 am (UTC)(link)
Why would it want a shoulder bag? Then it has to carry it around instead.

Pockets are much better. And since the plushies won't fit in those, it doesn't want them.

(It does not bother to reply to Laina's message.)
terraboo: (Default)

[personal profile] terraboo 2025-11-22 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Laina shrugs, walking off with her plushies.